John Carleton (September 13, 1899– January 21, 1977) was an American lawyer and competitive skier from

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. He competed in cross-country skiing and Nordic combined at the 1924 Winter Olympics in

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...

. He was also a pioneer of alpine skiing in the United States.

Scholastics

Carleton graduated from Hanover High School,

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

in Andover,

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

and

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

. While at Dartmouth, he was elected to

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

, member of

Delta Kappa Epsilon Delta Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as ''DKE'' or ''Deke'', is one of the oldest fraternities in the United States, with fifty-six active chapters and five active colonies across North America. It was founded at Yale College in 1844 by fiftee ...

fraternity, vice-president of Palaeopitus, vice-president of the

Dartmouth Outing Club The Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) is the oldest and largest collegiate outing club in the United States. Proposed in 1909 by Dartmouth College student Fred Harris to "stimulate interest in out-of-door winter sports", the club soon grew to encompas ...

and member of Cabin and Trail, and the

Casque and Gauntlet Casque and Gauntlet (also known as C&G) is the second-oldest of the twelve senior societies at Dartmouth College. C&G was founded in 1886, just after the Sphinx, and moved to its current location at 1 South Main Street in 1893. The house was ...

senior society. In 1922, he won a Rhodes scholarship, and graduated with a law degree from Oxford's Magdalen College in 1925.

Sports

Gustav Paulsen from Berlin N.H. taught Carleton to somersault on skis off a ski jump, which he first performed as an exhibition at the Dartmouth Winter Field Day in 1910. At Dartmouth he competed on the tennis team each year, and was a 1919 New England doubles champion. Carleton was captain of the ski team, competing for three years, and was an intercollegiate ski jump champion in 1919 and 1921. He was also on the varsity football team for three years. In 1922 Carleton won the Beck trophy at Lake Placid, and set two New England ski jumping records in N.H. and the Vermont state championship. As a member (and 1925 captain) of the Oxford ski team, in 1923 he took part in two Oxbridge Ski Races held in Switzerland. He competed for the U.S. in cross-country skiing and Nordic combined at the 1924 Winter Olympics. In April 11, 1931 along with

Charles Proctor Charles Proctor (January 4, 1906 – February 1, 1996) was an American skier. He competed at the 1928 Winter Olympics The 1928 Winter Olympics, officially known as the II Olympic Winter Games (french: IIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; german: ...

, Carleton made the first ski descent of the headwall at

Tuckerman Ravine Tuckerman Ravine is a glacial cirque sloping eastward on the southeast face of Mt. Washington, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Although it draws hikers throughout the year, and skiers throughout the winter, it is best known for the ma ...

. In 1932 he competed in the first Eastern Amateur Ski Association downhill race held on

Mount Moosilauke Mount Moosilauke is a mountain at the southwestern end of the White Mountains in the town of Benton, New Hampshire, United States. It is the tenth highest and most southwesterly of the 4,000 foot summits in the White Mountains. Moosilauke i ...

. As Chairman of the New Hampshire Ski Trails Committee of the State Development Commission in 1933, he oversaw the planning of 40 miles of new ski trails cut by the

CCC CCC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canada's Capital Cappies, the Critics and Awards Program in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada * ''Capcom Classics Collection'', a 2005 compilation of arcade games for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox * CCC, the pro ...

reaching across the state of New Hampshire from the Vermont line to the Maine line.

Military service

*World War I U.S. Army Sergeant *World War II U.S. Army Air Corps Captain, promoted to Major

Profession

Carleton was partner in the Manchester, N.H. law firm of “McLane, Carleton, Graf, Green & Brown" and an Assistant Attorney General for N.H. from 1939–45. He also worked as campaign manager for the unsuccessful

Sherman Adams Llewelyn Sherman Adams (January 8, 1899 – October 27, 1986) was an American businessman and politician, best known as White House Chief of Staff for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the culmination of an 18-year political career that also incl ...

N.H. 1946 Gubernatorial race"Gubernatorial recount"
''Waterbury Democrat'' pg 5 and was an alternate delegate to the 1948 Republican National Convention from New Hampshire.

Family

He married Alice Prescott Skinner on July 1, 1931 in Paris, France.

Honors

*Rhodes scholar 1922 *WWII Bronze Star Medal *National Ski Hall of Fame 1968

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carleton, John 1899 births 1977 deaths American male ski jumpers American male Nordic combined skiers American male cross-country skiers American male alpine skiers Olympic Nordic combined skiers for the United States Olympic cross-country skiers for the United States Nordic combined skiers at the 1924 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1924 Winter Olympics